New York judge to rule Friday on Strauss-Kahn suit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge is expected to decide on Friday whether to dismiss a civil lawsuit against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn brought by the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year.

Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon will issue a ruling Friday on a request from Strauss-Kahn's lawyers to dismiss the lawsuit, according to his office. They said he had diplomatic immunity in his capacity as the head of the IMF at the time of his arrest on attempted rape and other charges last May.

Nafissatou Diallo, a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan, told police Strauss-Kahn attacked her in his suite and forced her to perform oral sex.

New York prosecutors dropped the criminal case in August after developing concerns about Diallo's credibility as a witness.

In court papers, prosecutors said Diallo lied about her past - including fabricating a story about a gang rape in her native Guinea - and offered several different accounts of what she did in the moments following the alleged assault.

Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF post four days after being arrested in the case, which also ended any hopes he might have had of mounting a bid for the French presidency.

Diallo filed the lawsuit last August, claiming a brutal assault. Strauss-Kahn has denied the allegations, saying the encounter was consensual, and his lawyers have accused Diallo of financial motives.

Lawyers for both sides argued the motion to dismiss before McKeon last month. Neither Diallo nor Strauss-Kahn was present in court.